Anyone used EU Claim/Bott & Co?

glocal

Their business is regulated for accuracy, transparency, ethics etc. Eg lets see what the ASA thinks about that '99% success rate'. In fact, to achieve 99% you must be extremely selective, which doesn't sound like great advertising.

Extreme cherry picking could mean a low paid office assistant spending five minutes to submit an initial claim (it really takes that long), and if the airline resists then only consider pursuing straightforward cases involving four or more passengers who claim the max (600 euro) each. It's really about transperency and trust. I wouldn't mind if they explained their approach in advance. Again, all this is hypothetical because they won't share the stats.

NoviceAngel

When you think of what Solicitors normally charge per hour, I don’t know how Botts make a profit, abviously the number of cases and the throughput make it worth their while.

The DIY route is preferable, but for difficult or complicated cases I see a need for them and I wouldn’t begrudge 27% - remember the Huzar case, Dawson and then Allen, they’ve spent a few £££ in Legal costs.

legal_magpie

NoviceAngel wrote: »

The DIY route is preferable, but for difficult or complicated cases I see a need for them and I wouldn!!!8217;t begrudge 27% - remember the Huzar case, Dawson and then Allen, they!!!8217;ve spent a few £££ in Legal costs.

And they have also done the travelling public a HUGE service by taking cases to the highest courts, winning them and setting a binding precedent. My own claim against Thomson was due to be tried a week after Huzar was decided. Result. Thomson caved in at the door of the Court.

Tyzap

I completely agree with Legal Magpies sentiment.

Whan everyone who uses a NWNF solicitor should remember is that they are a commercial enterprise. If they recklessly fight every case they will lose money. If they cannot make money, they will stop trading.

It's why none of these companies would be willing to take on a case where there are just a couple of claimants, from a complicated delay, on an obscure foreign based airline, with no legal presence in this country. It would not be economically worth while.

Critical mass and picking your legal cases carefully is the key to success for such companies.

glocal

To be clear, no one expects a NWNF firm to take every case on. But they must be transparent in what they promise and honest in their publicity. Serving the travelling public is not enough to justify all business practices.

jpsartre

glocal wrote: »

But they must be transparent in what they promise and honest in their publicity.

Why? They work on a no-win/no-fee basis so if they drop your case you've lost nothing.

NoviceAngel

Little did I know when I posted above that I would require the services of Bott & Co.

It feels strange - almost disingenuous for me to be using the professional services of Bott & Co when the whole ethos of these forums is DIY help, and certainly not free advertising space for Botts.

I am probably the only one person on here to be able to say that I've started legal proceedings against Jet2 on four separate flights. So I can give you my honest opinion on Bott & Co. I've done the DIY route on my first flight delay, and let Botts deal with the last three. Eventually gaining us compensation for the last two of our three cancelled flights,

Botts are quite open in that they take a chunk of your compensation typically 25% plus admin fee and disbursements.

As an example I know I was entitled to 250 Euro in compensation and received £130.59 from Botts. I think Botts roughly took £92.41 for their effort.

So the question is was it worth me paying £92.41 for Botts help ? Given that I seem to have acquired the status of a 'regular' on here? and should now know the very basics of EC261/2004. I think in my case it was certainly worth my while in using Botts. My last three cancellations were not straight forward and would have been exceptionally difficult to tackle as a LIP (litigant in person). The fees I feel are more than reasonable most Solicitors charge £20 just to answer the phone. Details about my cancelled flight are Here :-
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=74583444&postcount=3424http://

I first met Coby (basically the head of flight delay at Botts), with Tyzap, at Liverpool when we were overseeing the flight delay case from Kimberley Allen, which we had first given Kimberley advice on the forum. My first impression of Coby, is that he is a genuine guy, just wanting to uphold the law and help his clients get what they deserve under the law. It did indeed, take me some time to understand this, because I thought Solicitors charged £20 to answer the phone, let alone take time out to meet NovieAngel (an unprofessional forum guy!)

Unfortunately I've had the displeasure of meeting a number of Solicitors over the years, but I felt a genuine, caring nature from Coby and although I wasn't a client of his at the time, he took time out to ask me about my case against Jet2 and did take his time to offer guidance and his professional advice.

Certainly using Bott & Co is much easier than the DIY route, the effort needed to raise a claim is minimal and they are very professional. No complaints whatsoever. In fact for someone like me, A little too professional, I mean they take over completely, you never get to see the letters between Botts and the airline, they completely take over, but I guess that's what you're paying them to do.I would have liked more more info and to have seen the correspondence about my claim, but appreciate other clients would not.

Would I use their services again ?

YES without hesitation, but I will always give my help to anybody brave enough to take on Jet2 via the DIY route. I think an excellent NWNF solicitor such as Botts should be used for difficult cases and for easier cases, when you don't have the time to read the forums and gain knowledge.

No complaints from me!

Cheers,

NoviceAngel

EDIT - Just received this

Bott_&_Co wrote:

[FONT=&quot] Our fees at 25% plus VAT come to £66.68 per passenger.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] The admin fee is £25 (Including VAT) per passenger.[/FONT]
Our total charges per passenger are £91.68.



Your compensation per passenger £222.27 Our total charges per passenger £91.68 Amount due to you per passenger £130.59
[FONT=&quot] In addition Bott and Co paid out a total of £100.00 in legal costs during the claim process that we have recovered from the airline along with interest charges that we have retained as agreed in your signed terms and conditions. The legal costs are not part of your flight delay compensation but we are obliged to inform you of these costs.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] Fine by me
[/FONT]

legal_magpie

I have always said that litigation is horses for courses. In a difficult case, it is better to get 75% of something than 100% of nothing. By taking difficult cases up to the Court of Appeal, at great potential loss to themselves if the cases failed, they have enabled numerous litigants to pursue cases against airlines where they would previously have failed. This especially applies to Tyzap's case on technical problems which was decided a week before the trial of my own case against Thomson.
Incidentally I have no connection with Bott and Co.

JPears

Agreed Coby is a top bloke and has helped me in the past. I think his initial interest in the whole flight delay issue and why Botts took up the challenge, is due to his own run in with Jet2 over a perfectly valid claim many years ago...


I'm in half a mind to hand over the compensation element of my easyJet claim to Botts as its an odd one where there was effectively an EC ATC strike 36 hours before flight, which EJ cancelled.
Then the EC ATC strike was called of at least 24 hours before the flight was scheduled. But EJ didn't re-instate the flight or any alternative.


The other half of me thinks it would be interesting to see if I got the same judge at Leeds CC, who made such a fundamental error in declaring a tech fault as an EC (pre Huzar days)....

baysieboy

I am in a quandary as to whether to sign up with Botts re delayed flight. i did the online check and it told me I had a right to claim. Since then I have received an email saying their further checks confirm this. I read all their blurb re NWNF, no hidden charges but then was surprised to to see in their sign up papers statements saying that I could be liable for their disbursements, win or lose, also the the costs of the other party should I not win. The initial blurb, I feel, is very misleading. Now I have received an email saying they have contacted the airline already. So now I am worried that they have acted wrongly in not making everything crystal clear in the first place and trying to lock me in without my signing anything. I am not worried about paying them max 25% plus VAT but am concerned about agreeing to undefined disbursement’s, etc. My claim is a simple one, one of knock on weather delay which I feel is not likely to go to court. Unfortunately, whilst I phoned them yesterday, I have still to receive a call back from them and this doesn’t impress. Am I worrying too much? Has anyone else on the forum experienced their claiming disbursement’s cost etc? Am I locked into them if I decide not to sign?